Then had the Greeks possessed themselves of Troy, With all its lofty portals, by the hand And valor of Patroclus, for his rage Was terrible beyond the rage of all Who bore the spear, had not Apollo stood On a strong tower to menace him with ill, And aid the Trojans. Thrice Patroclus climbed A shoulder of the lofty wall, and thrice Apollo, striking his immortal hands Against the glittering buckler, thrust him down; And when, for the fourth time, the godlike man Essayed to mount the wall, the archer-god, Phoebus, encountered him with fearful threats: “Noble Patroclus, hold thy hand, nor deem The city of the warlike Trojans doomed To fall beneath thy spear, nor by the arm Of Peleus’ son, though mightier far than thou.”